


Mistletoe Kisses

by Munchingpotatoes123



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Misteltoe kisses, Sad Ending, Secret Crush, Secret Santa, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 07:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17239640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Munchingpotatoes123/pseuds/Munchingpotatoes123
Summary: Kaito Momota has been invited to a Christmas party by his old rival Kokichi, who'd claimed to want to patch things up, but the astronaut began to question that when Kokichi pretty much abandoned him alone in a party of 3-dozen or so strangers. Thank the lord, however, he finds Rantaro Amami in the midst of everything, his old Hope's Peak crush. Not even a minute after they try and reconnect after so long and they find each other under a mistletoe, as so graciously pointed out by the little devil spawn himself. I'm pretty sure you could find out what happens next.





	Mistletoe Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy, another DRA fanfic! Yes, I have a lot of them, go follow me on there my name's kirby and I'm the one with the Mercy profile couGH
> 
> Enough plugs, this was a fanfic I wrote as a part of a secret santa exchange! It was a gift to my good friend Ash, who you should also check out on there, he writes amazing fanfics and is an avid Kaitaro shipper if you're into that [which if you're reading this, I assume you are]. It was plenty fun to write! I hope you guys enjoy reading this. As always, kudos are appreciated!

Kaito stood still, leaning against the kitchen counter as he sipped from his glass of alcoholic eggnog, not really celebrating or conversing with other people as one is expected to do when attending a Christmas party. He wasn’t exactly a lone wolf, in fact he loved socializing with others, it’s just that in the context of parties, well, he just liked talking with people he already knew. Besides, it seemed as if everyone’s already had someone else to talk to, and it felt like he was the only one alone.

He wouldn’t be surprised if the only person in the room he recognized was the host himself, Kokichi Ouma, an old Hope’s Peak buddy (although ‘buddy’ might not be the right word to describe their...er…relationship), who was currently talking to his own batch of people. Kaito’s eyes peered through the lip of his glass, glazing over the three dozen or so attendants for what must’ve felt like the thousandth time. He didn’t want to stay alone for the whole of the party, but it seemed like that was the way things were going to go.

After a short sigh, his eyes had suddenly caught a hint of movement and flicked towards it. Straightening up a bit, he saw a tuft of familiar avocado-colored hair stir within the crowd of strange heads. He narrowed his eyes into a squint, was...was that Rantaro? No, it couldn’t be...could it? He took a step closer, as if that’d somehow help him see better, before through the jungled roots of people he could see...a pendant, wrapped loosely around the green-haired person’s neck, one he knew Rantaro had worn through all of high school.

Eyes widening and a smile growing, Kaito stood on the tips of his toes as he called out, “Hey! Rantaro! Over here!” The hair stirred a bit, before suddenly a set of light-green eyes connected with his own, and Kaito knew he’s found his old friend. Rantaro paced over to where Kaito was, his usual laid-back smile framing his face, the smile that made Kaito’s heart do a little twirl.

Rantaro was (is) Kaito’s old crush during their old Hope’s Peak years, one he’d pined after for about...all their time there, but that wouldn’t change things between them at all nowadays. It was already two years after Hope’s Peak, he’s long gotten over his silly crush, no awkward gay tension here, nope, not at all (hey stop looking at me like that). “Hey dude, long time no see!” Kaito cheered with a smile.

“Yeah, it’s definitely been a while,” Rantaro shook Kaito’s hands, the pearled and soft meeting callouses.

“Damn dude, I thought I was going to spend this whole party alone,” Kaito chuckled a bit, taking another long sip from his eggnog,”So, how’s it been? Anything new?”

“Heh, not really, I’ve mostly just spent the last year or so traveling around as much as I can. Although, that’s getting sorta difficult since tickets are starting to rise up in price a bit.”

“Hah, isn’t everything? Yeah, I’ve been continuing on the space program a bit more lately, I really want to get up there someday, but...it might take a while, to say the least.”

Rantaro’s smile grew a bit, “Good to know I’m not the only one having trouble with their talent after high school.”

“Tell me about it! Honestly, I think I might-”

Just then, their conversation was cut short by a shrill, gut-punching voice, one that might as well have come from Satan himself.

“Ooh! Someone’s under the mistletoe!~”   
  
It was only when Kaito had registered what was said had he wanted to punch Kokichi in the face, well at least more than normal. He nearly spat out his mouthful of eggnog once he noticed the little green-and-red ornament hanging daintily over both their heads, sitting still and innocent, as if it wasn’t about to destroy Kaito’s entire life in one fell swoop. He didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the embarrassment, but a burning red spread on his face.

A small crowd formed around the two boys, filled to the brim with anticipating smiles and chuckles and rash whispers. Kaito’s eyes flicked all around the room, back and forth trying to find some kind of escape. People- more people- Kokichi’s shit-eating grin (the little bastard!-)- Rantaro’s just-as-embarrassed face (fuck he’s hoT)- eggnog- nope, no matter where he looked, there was no escape from the hell he’s gotten himself into.

“What are you waiting for, lovebirds? C’mon! You’re not about to break a Christmas tradition, are you?~” Kokichi mocked in the most sickly-sweet voice he could conjure, all the while Kaito did his best to look at anything that wasn’t Rantaro (or Kokichi), trying to pretend as if his life wasn’t crumbling into Ash in front of him. He resorted to digging his hands into his pockets, eyes stuck to the ground, humming to himself and trying to ignore everything around him. Nope, nothing gay going on here, not in the slightest! You can all go back to your conversations, cuz there’s nothing, not at all hahaA.

“C’mooooon! Kiss already! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Kokichi started, and in no time, pretty much everyone in the room was following along to the chant, nearly shaking the house with the intensity of it all. Kaito felt like a pot of boiling water,

~~ hot and wet ~~

In the sense that he felt like he felt an intense heat licking against the inside of his ribs, a twisting of his chest that made it hard to breathe, an overall fire spreading all over his body as the chants grew louder and louder, more and more intense (or maybe that was his imagination, either way), and under the stress and pressure of the situation, something deep and visceral pushed Kaito to do something he never thought he’d do.

He went for it

The kiss only lasted for a second. For only a second did he feel Rantaro’s small lips contact his own. For only a second was he able to process how perfectly the small divots in their lips fit into each other, like two puzzle pieces clicking into each other, as if they were perfectly molded for each other. For only a second did he feel the burst of fireworks shake his core, and yet the resonance after the fact was the thing that left the most of an impression.   
  
Kaito could barely even process the subsequent cheering and clapping of the crowd over his own thoughts, running at hundreds of miles a minute as he peered into the twinkle of Rantaro’s eyes.   
  
**✬✧★✧✬**   
  
It’d been over an hour since that fateful moment. Everyone had gone back to their previous doings, the world hadn’t exploded or melted away, and yet Kaito could feel a buzz push against his lips and the shake from deep within his core still burning strong. 

He was all alone, under the muffled moonlight and sprinkles of stars, sitting on the questionably-wet wooden patio behind Kokichi’s house. The peace and quiet was nice, but yet he could still very much feel the surpressed bass from the party music as it made the patio floor quiver. He tried to distract himself from everything by looking up at the stars and figuring out constellations, but everything he looked at reminded him of Rantaro.

The twinkling, blinking lights up in the sky reminded him of his eyes, the dim shades of orange left over from the distant sunset reminded him of the blush that’d encompassed his face as much as it had Kaito’s, the silver tones of the moon and stars reminding him of old pendant that he still wore. He couldn’t get his mind off of the other boy and it frustrated him to no end.

With an exasperated sigh, Kaito flopped to his back, not caring that his favorite jacket was getting wet and dirty, his eyes stapled onto the familiar creases of the sky. Sometimes, Kaito thought of the sky as a book, one he read over and over until the pages were worn and creased from the dog-ears made at the corner, one that’d held all his memories and thoughts and feelings. The sky was constant, it was always there no matter what he was feeling, it didn’t wax or wane or dip beneath the horizon- unlike the moon and sun respectively- he felt like he could confide in it, and in that sense, it felt like a personal diary more than a blanket of gasses surrounding the earth made to trap heat. This moment, however, was something he knew he’d rather not journal.

Kaito’s ears twitched as he heard the squeak of the patio door open, making clearly the sounds of the gathering before quickly muffling them once again. Despite keeping his eyes tied to the sky, he knew who it was, as the jingling of a pendant gave it away to an almost painful extent. He felt his heart tighten as Rantaro lay down right next to him.

Neither one said anything, and they just looked up at the stars. Kaito couldn’t help but feel like they were thinking about the same thing- emotions. Not love, not confusion, not embarrassment, just...emotions. Rantarou took his time peering into the stars, scrawling down his own personal diary entry, making sure to note the stirring cloud of conflicting emotions, writing something he could visit again years later and have a good chuckle at.

Ten minutes passed...then twenty...then thirty. In that time, neither had stirred, neither had said anything, neither glanced at each other. They just sat together, in still silence, journaling their feelings and bonding over the sky the same way a family would bond over a roaring bonfire. It was at the thirty-five-minute mark that Rantaro’s deep voice slashed through that comfortable silence.

_ “...You don’t have to say anything, but I want you to know...I feel the same about you.”  _

Kaito tensed up a bit, but said nothing. Was his crush on Rantaro really that obvious? More importantly, were his feelings returned? Genuinely? I mean, they had to be, Kaito liked Rantaro...a lot...and knowing that Rantaro felt the same confusing yet good-feeling emotions got a sort of warmness flowing through Kaito’s body, but in a good way this time.

Rantaro’s hand moved to sit on Kaito’s, confirming the boy’s previous couple questions. Fireworks. He felt fireworks, similar to the ones from when they shared their mistletoe kiss. Even more than fireworks, it felt like the stars themselves, the little orbs of memories that held Kaito’s thoughts and feelings, had burst into colorful strands of spider legs. Unconsciously, Kaito tightened his grip on Rantaro’s hand, heart beating at the warmness of the other boy’s skin pressing up against his. In fact, his heart beat so hard against his chest it felt like it was starting to bruise, but in a good way, I promise.

At that moment, it didn’t matter how insignificant they were. It didn’t matter that the stars had towered over them, that they were mere specs in the grand scheme of things- no, less than specs, less than the microscopic germs that hand soap brands tell you they kill 99% of. It didn’t matter that their feelings were purely chemicals pumped into their bodies by their brains. At that moment, it felt like the world was...complete, whole in a way it never was before, and Kaito made sure to document this in his diary.

**-ˋˏTHIRTY YEARS LATERˎˊ-**

Wisps of fog crawled across the floor like lost spirits, weakened and broken, barely clawing at Kaito’s ankles as he paced along at as fast a pace as he could manage without running.

It was fair to say that Kaito was a man much different than his much younger, more naive self ever since he’s gotten together with Rantaro. He’s gone to space and back, many times, he’s seen incredible things both in earth and out of it, and he’s experienced the ups and downs and the rocky road associated with relationships. In the end, however, it was a satisfying experience, a satisfying life, one he’s glad he lived.

He couldn’t help but think about it all as he walked through the mulch of the graveyard floor, the movement of his feet stirring like the brewing of a witch’s cauldron. Kaito’s wrinkled face morphed into a sad smile, his brain reaching back for the memories of what felt like a hundred lives, and it made his heart sing knowing he’s lived a life that was...complete. He’s done everything he set out to do, and even though he was still fresh into his fifties, he felt as if he could pass away at this very moment and that’d be perfectly fine.

Well...maybe not yet. He still had one thing he needed to do.

Every Saturday, Kaito would visit the graveyard closest to his home with a bouquet in his hand, and it was always tulips- no matter what. Sure the colors would vary- although mostly red and yellow to symbolize love/passion and personal freedom respectively- but it was always tulips. They were Rantaro’s favorite flowers, he’d grow them most predominantly in his garden, for reasons Kaito still to this day couldn’t figure out yet respected.

The man stopped in his tracks, as he saw the cracked and vine-covered headstone. Wordlessly, yet with thoughts threatening to burst from his mind, he knelt down and spilled the flowers onto the grave as gently as his shaking hand could physically allow him…

_ ‘Here Lies Rantaro Mamota, Loving Husband and Brother. Rest In Peace.’ _

Every time, every damn time he read what that headstone had said he couldn’t help but let hot tears course down his cheeks, and it was even worse today, since it was the one-year anniversary of his husband’s death. Kaito missed him. He missed him so much, it tore him apart from the inside, but he’d still look at it with a genuine smile.

Kaito gave himself a long moment to just...grieve. He let himself cry and cry, he let himself imagine Rantaro’s spirit cradling him as he knelt powerless in front of his grave. During the rest of the week he’d be too overwhelmed with work and such, and this was the one time he could let himself cry over the disappearance of his loving husband. He’d do anything to have him back in the flesh, he’d trade his memories and experiences just to feel their lips pressed together in their perfect form for just a second, but...he was long gone. It’d felt like an eternity without him, every day.

However, every day, every Saturday especially, no matter what, Kaito wouldn’t forget to let his emotions drip into the stars in the form of a new journal entry.

_ “I love you…” _


End file.
